1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hologram forming apparatus and method, and also to a hologram formed by the apparatus and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A holographic stereogram is produced by sequentially recording many images formed by sequentially photographing an object from different points of view, as rectangular or dot-like element holograms on a single hologram recording medium.
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a conventional method for producing holographic stereogram. For example, to form a holographic stereogram having parallax information only in the horizontal direction, first an object 100 is photographed sequentially from different points of view to provide a sequence of parallax images 101 formed from a plurality of images having the parallax information in the horizontal direction. Then, images 102 in the sequence of parallax images 101 are sequentially recorded as rectangular element holograms in a hologram recording medium 103 so that the parallax images will be in succession in the horizontal direction. Thus, a holographic stereogram having the parallax information in the horizontal direction is provided.
In the holographic stereogram, the information of the plurality of images 102 obtained by sequentially photographing the object from different horizontal points of view are sequentially recorded as rectangular element holograms so that they are in succession in the horizontal direction. So, when the holographic stereogram is viewed by the viewer with his or her both eyes, different two-dimensional images will be incident upon the right and left eyes, respectively. Thus, the viewer will feel a parallax and a three-dimensional image will be reconstructed from the different two-dimensional images. Namely, it has been proposed to record only a three-dimensional image in the hologram recording medium.
The parallax image trains from which the holographic stereogram is produced can be formed by moving a camera 104 in parallel to an object 100 for example as shown in FIG. 2 with the camera 104 directed towards the object 100 and kept constantly so directed, thereby taking many pictures of the object 100 from different positions. More specifically, the camera 104 directed towards the object 100 is moved in parallel to the object 100 from a beginning position of a photographic range of the camera 104 to an end position where the object 100 is out of the photographic range, and thus, while moving the camera 104 kept constantly directed as in the above within the photographic range, many pictures of the object 100 are taken from different angles of viewing. Thus parallax images from which a holographic stereogram is produced can be obtained. Note that this method for taking many pictures of the object 100 from different positions by moving the camera 104 in parallel to the object 100 with the camera 104 kept constantly directed as in the above is called xe2x80x9cstraight trackxe2x80x9d system.
For 3D (three-dimensional) printing of the images in a hologram, original 3D image data are produced from pictures taken of an object using a special imaging method such as parallel or rotational movement of the camera. Also, the original 3D image data can be produced by the computer graphics (CG).
As mentioned above, printing of a real-object image in a hologram needs to actually photograph the real object by a camera or the like. In this case, the special photography is necessary as in the above and to this end, a special equipment is also required. Conventionally, much labor, techniques and costs are needed for the photography.
Accordingly, the present invention has an object to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art by providing a hologram forming apparatus and method, capable of holographically printing an image photographed using no special imaging method as a stereo image.
The present invention has another object to provide a holographic stereogram formed by artificially acquiring image information which would have to be in a great amount from a very small number of 2D image information.
The above object can be attained by providing a hologram forming apparatus including according to the present invention:
means for pasting a separately produced image on a stereo image model showing at least a part of a three-dimensional object previously prepared to produce a synthetic image; and
means for producing parallax image train from the synthetic image from the image synthesizing means.
Also the above object can be attained by providing a hologram forming method including, according to the present invention, steps of:
pasting a separately produced image on a stereo image model showing at least a part of a three-dimensional object previously prepared to produce a synthetic image; and
producing a parallax image train from the synthetic image produced at the synthesizing step.
Also the above object can be attained by providing a hologram forming apparatus including according to the present invention:
first means for producing a three-dimensional object image train containing a stereo image model in at least a part thereof;
second means for producing a train of images produced separately; and
means for pasting the image train produced by the second image train producing means on the stereo image model of the three-dimensional object image train produced by the first image train producing means to synthesize a parallax image train.
Also the above object can be attained by providing a hologram forming method including, according to the present invention:
a first step of producing a three-dimensional object image train containing a stereo image model in at least a part thereof,
a second step of producing a train of images produced separately; and
a step of pasting the image train produced at the second image train producing step on the stereo image model of the three-dimensional object image train produced at the second image train producing step to synthesize a parallax image train.
Also the above object can be attained by providing a hologram having recorded therein a parallax image train produced from an image synthesized by pasting a separately produced image on a stereo image model showing at least a part of a three-dimensional object previously prepared.
Also the above object can be attained by providing a hologram having recorded therein a parallax image train produced from an image synthesized by pasting a train of separately produced images on a train of three-dimensional object images containing a stereo image model in at least a part thereof.
These objects and other objects, features and advantages of the present intention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.